Bluetongue in captive yaks.

In August 2006, several Northern European countries including Belgium reported their first cases of bluetongue (BT). Surprisingly, it was the first time that BT was diagnosed so far in the northern hemisphere (1). BT is a non contagious, arthropod borne animal disease. The causal virus belongs to the genus Orbivirus in the family Reoviridae. The genome of the bluetongue virus (BTV) consists of 10 segments of double-stranded RNA and 24 serotypes have been reported (2). Serotype 8 (BTV-8) was implied in the emergence in Belgium (3). All ruminant species are thought to be susceptible to BT (2) but lack of data remains for certain species. We report here laboratory confirmed clinical cases of BT in yaks.